In the 15 years Roger West has been in business, our talented writers have worked hard, publishing hundreds of original blogs on our website that contain marketing tips for all. It’s no secret that long term content marketing works. Adding a new blog post every week has definitely improved our SEO and increased our site traffic, but it’s a slow, steady process. While we’re still waiting for one of these suckers to go viral, we might as well try to keep things fresh.
Work Smarter Not Harder
If you’ve built up a nice repository of articles and sometimes have difficulty creating everything from scratch, who’s to say you can’t reuse some of this stuff? The real answer is there’s no written rule about recycling your old content! You totally can! But it raises the question: does repurposing do more harm than good when it comes to your website rank and search results? In today’s world with endless amounts of content circulating, repurposing on multiple platforms is actually a great way to get more eyes on your work.
How to Repurpose your Posts
Recycling a blog post does not duplicate the same post, it simply freshens up what’s already there! Since the old version does not continue to exist, repurposing can act as a powerful tool for keeping your content schedule consistent, minus the tons of heavy lifting.
There are a few different levels to repurposing, which are dependent on the type of post and how well it performs. If you aren’t sure how to go about it, here are the different ways to work smarter, NOT harder.
Do Almost Nothing.
If your old post is evergreen and already popular, you can simply change the publishing date on it to have it show up as your most recent post. Promote on social media, add it to an email or e-newsletter, and watch it come back to life. You may also want to add a note for transparency, saying that you are republishing it because it’s been so popular, helpful, etc. Whatever you do say, you don’t need to claim it’s brand new for it to be effective!
Do Slightly More than Nothing.
Consider giving it a shiny new headline and images or updating any outdated stats and information. Maybe thrown in a new intro or add some additional material, as long as you’ve optimized for SEO. Some other quick ways to switch it up could be swapping images, updating meta descriptions, and changing the headers or bullet structure. You can also refresh links and call to action to make sure the new content is highlighted. Again, note that the post has been updated, then you’re freed to republish and promote.
Make a Small Effort.
Revise that old post! If you feel a post needs a bigger refresh, take the idea from the old version and come at the same subject from a different angle. You can take some bullet points and expand on them to make their own posts. To spruce things up even more, you can take old posts and turn them into other materials – infographics, podcasts, videos, slideshares. Whatever your heart desires, a bigger revision is a surefire way to create new content and boost engagement.
Combine & Consolidate
If you notice your posts are competing against each other, it might be time to consolidate! When content has similarities in things like subjects and keywords, it’s possible there may be one post that is pulling ahead in the amount of search traffic. An easy way to fix this problem is by combining the information under one post, using the blog that is getting the most traffic. The old post can then be archived, deleted, or redirected to the more popular URL. This is a great way to make your messages more impactful and generate long form content out of older, forgotten posts.
Make a Big Effort
While this may not fully fit into the category of “work smarter not harder,” some of those old posts might just be worth a total demolition and rebuild. Even if a post has performed well in the past and already has a lot of existing backlinks, it might still need some saving from outdated SEO strategies! If you notice that a post is being unnecessarily stuffed with keywords or optimization for SEO is nonexistent, the post might require a total rewrite.
Repurposing isn’t Counterintuitive
In a way it may feel like cheating the system, but repurposing existing content helps to do more than keep your organic traffic from becoming stagnant. Even while creating new content on a consistent basis is a great way to raise brand awareness, making sure old posts get enough love and recognition can be just as important, and here’s why:
- It Gives SEO a Boost. Giving posts fresh, new keywords is a great way to boost your company’s SEO and drive more organic traffic to your pages. Since search engines tend to favor new content when serving up results, a repurposed post will be pushed back to the top and may get more clicks than it did the first time it was posted.
- It Widens your Audience. Believe it or not, some folks may have missed your post the first time around! You want to make sure your posts are reaching as many people as possible, and repurposing is a great way to make sure that happens. Search engines pushing new content to the top may act as a driver for new audience members, but you can also reach more people by resharing on as many platforms as possible, like your company’s social media pages.
- It Adds Authority. Repurposing blogs adds to your authority on a topic! Keeping useful content consistent shows the outside world that your team has continued to build expertise on certain topics. This also comes with adding new things learned since the piece was first written, and expanding that expertise even more. If you’ve been blogging for a long time, there may not have been much of a plan in place when you started, so it’s always good to reassess how older posts can fit the company’s new and updated strategy.
- It Improves Content Quality. When the focus is set on always creating new and better content, it’s likely that the quality of older posts flies under the radar. When you set out to repurpose those older posts, it’s the perfect time to go back and improve the writing. This also works to keep a consistent and steady voice in every piece of content, so the reader can really get to know your brand.
Choosing the Right Content to Recirculate
Not sure which posts to repurpose? Start with the stats! See which pieces of content has gained the most traffic and figure out the best way to freshen it up. A simple yet effective way to measure success is by taking a peek at your company’s key performance indicators within your blog posts. This means looking into the number of visitors on each post, the time spent on specific pages, call to action, conversions, and backlinks to see how much traffic your content is generating.
Checking out the technical side will point you in the right direction to just how much work past posts may need. In your research, you may find that certain posts haven’t done so well, which is the push telling your team of experts to get a little more creative. Either way, repurpose your posts in a way that will boost engagement, and keep your SEO going strong in the future.
Let’s Blog About It
Speaking of experts, Roger West has just that! Our team has helped to keep content fresh, repurposing blogs and other materials to boost SEO. We have also worked to develop exciting and creative campaigns, blogs, and a library of other written content that keeps our clients happy.
Need help creating great, lead-generating content? We’ve got your back. Let’s talk.
Diane Callihan
With more than 20 years of experience writing for some of the country’s top brands, Diane helped to shape Roger West’s content strategy, lead generation, and PR efforts as Director of Marketing. She currently serves as President of Callihan Content Creation.